It seems that Pyre’s warband in Doomlore Shrine not only has problems with the shaman caste, but also from another threat underneath their outpost. The caverns just below where Gron Fierceclaw trades with allies, are home to an army of restless spirits lead by the ghost Murakai, Lady of the Night. Gron tasked Malory and I with getting rid of their problem. Of course they wouldn’t have this problem if they hadn’t brought back Ascalonian relics to this underground Cathedral of Flames. But I have a choice to help our new charr allies or watch as they are assaulted by ghosts and other charr.

Not far in from where we started, I spotted some humanoid cocoons dangling from large webs.

In the main dining hall, we met with resistance from enemy charr. They were also fighting the undead, but didn’t want to ally with us to get rid of them.

While we were clearing out the dining area, I couldn’t help but notice the food on these tables. They’re covered in cobwebs, so I can’t imagine anyone sat here recently. But the food should have decayed. Maybe the restless spirits have kept the hall this way along with the lit candles to spook intruders.

At the end of the dining hall, we spotted a large mural depicting Abaddon. It’s like the one I found earlier in the Ooze Pit.

A group of ghosts were blocking our passage to the further depths. I didn’t expect the spirits of Ascalonians to be so powerful. If more of Ascalon’s people had been this strong, I think they could have handled the charr invasion a lot better.

In the next area, we kept encountering more of the shaman caste’s group. I’m not sure why they are holding out here if it’s such a dangerous area. I’m sure they’d like to recover and keep the Ascalonian relics, but if they can’t defeat the ghosts those relics are not going anywhere!

Natural darkness of the caverns is pushed away by the lava and molten lava from machines used to mine the area. Which is great, because it illuminates the traps that spew poisonous gas ahead.

Nearing the exit, we found a space full of bones of all sizes. Malory asked if I knew what such large creatures were doing underground, but I didn’t have an answer.

Again, as we were reaching the next passage connecting to the final cavern of the Cathedral of Flames, ghosts blocked our way. I tried to talk to them, but they were full of anger and wanted to kill anything that approached.

Before descending, Malory and I looked around at this ghastly room. It’s hard to walk around here without tripping over bones of some sort. And just to make it more spooky, there are several large skulls coming out of the walls.

At the third underground cave system that is the Cathedral of Flames, we found an odd monument. I cannot guess as to its meaning. Whoever built this is long gone now.

This last level is proving to be much more visually interesting. These perpetually burning trees captured our attention right away. The air in this room is very dry and smokey. But why are there burning trees here?

Exploring the depths of Tyria is never safe, and sometimes you come across areas with unstable floors or other hazards. But I just had to get a bit closer once we noticed the Ascalon crest on the walls below.

Further on we found a mural of King Doric, the legendary king, pleading with the gods.

Above a large graveyard, there is a depiction of the five gods on the ceiling. Of course when you go further into the room to get a better look, undead rise from their graves to attack you.

As Malory and I finished exploring all the rooms, we approached the stairway leading to Murakai.

Murakai’s room a had a large pool of lava in the center, and the bridges leading to her were guarded by bone minions. We had to carefully take those out before crossing it, or we’d risk falling to our fiery deaths.

As if taking care of her army of undead and bone minions wasn’t enough, after you start attacking her she can summon even more undead. Although with Malory the mesmer at my side, her abilities were not as deadly.

We recovered the relics Murakai was protecting and gave them to Gron in Doomlore Shrine. He appreciated our efforts to subdue the undead for a time, and the relics will be used in case their warband has to bribe any charr trying to squash their resistance.